• HeyJoe@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    I think its crazy how many people get ticks where they go unnoticed long enough for it to bury and reach your blood. I wanna say it’s a full 24 hours before that happens and even then idk how much it takes before this will effect you since even things like limes disease means it needs to be in you for even longer.

    Idk about others, but I have had my fair share of ticks, but thankfully, never one go unnoticed long enough that it broke through. People really should check more. Showering is a great time to discover if you may have one on you.

    • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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      1 month ago

      I got a tick bite. And I didn’t even notice it. It was right on my arm. So it’s not like I’ve just been sitting around feeding the fucker for the fun of it.

      As the doctor told me. They can be very tiny, they latch on, and then you accidentally rub it off, never knowing it was there. And during that, it regurgitated and that’s why you see the giant tick bite mark.

      The real question. Is why people see a giant hollow red circle and just ignore it. It’s a very distinctive mark, I don’t know how you could miss it, unless it’s on the back of your thigh or back. Go to the doctor, get penicillin. That’s it.

      And these days, if you know you live in a high risk area, you can get vaccinated.

        • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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          1 month ago

          Then you probably removed it without making regurgitate. Which is good. Point is. If you see the bullseye. You need penicillin.

      • GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 month ago

        I’ll tell you why. Because it’s fucking expensive.

        I had what looked like a classic “bullseye” tick bite (several, actually). People told me “run, don’t walk, to the ER”. So I did.

        The ER doc told me it was probably fine but I should see my doctor. $600. They had the gall to bill me $600 for telling me to go see a doctor. And that’s with “good” insurance.

        I still have no idea what caused those marks.

    • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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      1 month ago

      You haven’t lived somewhere the ticks are really bad then.

      There is a point especially with ticks too small to see with a negative eye that you will simply not catch them all even if you catch 99% of them.

      • HeyJoe@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        I honestly am not sure if I live in a bad area or not. During peak times, spring and fall, I will find several on me and the kids per year and a bunch more in the house, which were most likely dragged in by our dog. I feel like it’s a lot more than some people, but it could be worse. I have never seen any that are that small, thankfully.

        • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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          1 month ago

          Nope, you don’t.

          In southern new england US, walking 100 feet from my car to the door of my mom’s house you can reliably get a tick from close mowed grass. Granted the area is coastal wetlands, but the density of ticks is incomprehensible.

          It is one of the reasons I moved away, ANYTHING you do outside you immediately have to take a thorough shower if it is in nature (wait what is the point of being outside without nature? I know). That means you have to compartmentalize your outdoor work/play so it only happens in one chunk that you can then decontaminate yourself from with a shower and tick check after.

          Even still though, you can’t be perfect with it and if you have outdoor pets you are fucked too.

          I am not joking, I have pulled countless ticks off me and gotten lyme disease several times along with everyone else I know from that area. You get very very very good at tick checking and mitigating ticks getting on you (at this point I know the feeling of a tick crawlng across my leg hair and can catch them just by the feeling of them crawling up my leg when I am lucky), but you just can’t be perfect.

          If this sounds disgusting and ridiculous, yes, yes it is.

          I am not talking about the ocassional tick, I am talking about EVERY time you go into the woods you come back COVERED in ticks. This isn’t hyperbole, they genuinely get this bad in certain areas especially in the vicinity of wetlands.

    • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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      1 month ago

      As a kid, I had a ticket on the top of my head just a bit back of center. Couldn’t see it in a mirror, didn’t feel anything weird right away. My mom noticed it at some point, but we had no idea how long it had been on there at that point. I was between 6-8 IIRC.

    • swelter_spark@reddthat.com
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      1 month ago

      I’ve been bitten by ticks many times, sometimes at once (from playing with a family friend’s dog). They’re surprisingly light for such a large creature.